I’ve felt separated from God lately. I know from experience that my feelings of *space* between us is not because God has moved away from me, but because I have moved away from God. I’ve not purposely set out to put distance between God and me, but it is happened over time. And as I examine my life to figure out why I feel this distance, there can only be one answer:
SIN.
Sin separates us from God. While my life might look godly, I have sin in my life. And wherever sin is, the devil is there, too, constantly reminding me of my sin. The result is that I feel guilty and ashamed of my actions, and I feel like God would not want to associate with someone like me. Thus, I feel separated from God and I don’t like it.
“What sin?” you wonder. Okay, I’ll be brave tell. The sin I’m struggling with isn’t huge, glaring sin like murder or grand theft or overt adultery , but it’s many little sins that add up and make my heart feel yucky. But even little sin is still sin.
Like when the employee at Moes told me that I could take 2 free cookies and my selfish self took 3.
Or when, in my anger, I unfriended someone on Facebook.
Let’s not forget when I posted a rant about politics on Facebook and had certain people in mind.
Or when I fueled my vanity and my mid-life crisis by buying shoes I didn’t need.
Or when I looked at someone and was critical of them.
And then there’s that cute young dermatologist and how, at 45, I appreciated his flirty comments.
There’s more, but I’m sure that you have better things to do.
We all have yucky, stinky sin in our heart. We have jealousy and lust and selfishness and lots and lots of pride. Our flesh and bones, our humanity, battles with sin on a daily basis. Some battles we win, and some battles we lose. And the sin builds up in in our heart, building a wall between God and us.
What does God think about our sin? He doesn’t like it either, but He has made a plan for it. He loves us so very much that He gave His son to die for our sin. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to pay for the sin that plagues us daily. As Christians, we know these truths in our heads, but we have to get them down deep into our hearts.
Practically speaking, there are three things we can do with our sin. First, we need to confess it to God.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV
Secondly, we can exchange our stony, sinful heart for a soft heart of flesh. God promises us that in the New Covenant, He will give us a new heart. We desperately need this new heart that is promised to us, so we can pray for it and ask for it.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 26:36 NIV
Lastly, we can receive God’s forgiveness and grace. Once we’ve confessed our sin and exchanged our stony heart for the promised heart of flesh, we can leave that sin at the cross and go on. God no longer remembers it, so we don’t have to continue to wallow in its guilt and shame. We can go on with God.
…As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12 NIV
Now there is no longer any wall of guilt and shame between God and us. We can freely pray, we can freely worship, and we can freely serve. Sin is no longer hanging over us and the devil can no longer accuse us about our sin. We can again enjoy God’s presence in our lives.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 KJV
It’s hard work, but let’s deal with our sin, girls. If I can help you in any way, please email me and let’s talk.
I want our relationships with God to be strong and secure and not disrupted by sin in our lives. God is there, waiting on us, to deal with our sin and to draw near to Him.
He is waiting on you.
If you’ve never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and received His forgiveness of sin and gift of eternal life, I would love to talk to you. Email me at Lisa@CelebratingWeakness.com
Sharing is caring. If this post encouraged you, will you share it on Facebook so that it could bless your friends,too? Thanks for helping me to reach more struggling women with encouragement, hope, and grace.
